Debriefing In New Mexico
by avngstories
Summary: More Clint Barton pre-avengers. A short segue from my story Malibu to "Avengers"...Just a little something I thought of watching the fight in the rain scene from "Thor". Chaper 3 updated with even more angst.
1. Chapter 1

_**Authors Note: Stuck on Malibu with writer's block….so I thought I'd work a little more on Hawkeye's backstory. Like a lot of people -Jeremy Renner included - I thought that Hawkeye got short-changed in the "Avengers". Yah, the infirmary scene was pure art, but it was just too short! So, that led me back to "Thor", ahem, yah I just watched the SHIELD scenes again – skipping over the Natalie Portman parts…**_

_**Also, like a lot of people, I never bothered to check the after credits bonus scene at the end of "Thor". But, then I did. Um, can you say "MAJOR FREAKIN PLOT HINT FOR THE NEXT MOVIE".**_

_**So, when I finally finish Malibu, Barton and Coulson will still be in New Mexico, dealing with the fall-out of the Thor battle. That poses an interesting question: Was Barton in New Mexico the whole time between the events of "Thor" and the beginning of the "Avengers" or did he leave and come back at some point? Suggestions welcome!**_

_**This next story is just a little something I thought of watching the fight in the rain scene from "Thor". So, it's just a one-shot right now, but I WILL write a 2**__**nd**__** chapter if anyone can guess the first name of the astro-biologist. Sorry- I just couldn't help myself after seeing the hammer covered in a plastic dome. Post the name in a review! Enjoy my friends!**_

Five days after the debriefing in California about two men dueling in armored exoskeletons, Fury, Coulson, and Barton were once again in a small conference room. A 40-somthing man in a white lab coat knocked on the door.

"You asked to see me sir?"

"Yes, Dr. Wilson, we have some footage for you to review."

"Certainly, Sir." The scientist entered the room to find Director Nick Fury, Deputy Director Phil Coulson, and another agent Wilson had never met. The man had Special Forces written all over him. Wilson wondered to himself who the guy was to have a high enough security clearance to be in a briefing with himself, Fury, and Coulson. Fury motioned to introduce them, "Agent Barton, meet Dr. Wilson. Wilson has multiple degrees in biology and astronomy. We call him our 'astro-bio' expert". Barton nodded to him, without speaking. Wilson took that as a sign that Barton was used to being in briefings like this.

Fury began, "So, doc, it seems we had ourselves a little 'incident' in a town about 100 miles away from here."

Coulson ran what video they had managed to get of the battle between a really big guy with a hammer, four other equally large and dangerous looking 'people' and a giant silver robot. Clint had seen the video a few times already and was still completely blown away by it. It looked like a movie, but it wasn't. I really happened. _Seriously, who in HELL were those people? Were they even 'people'? Were they human? And the feakin' hammer had just levitated and flown away…freakn' flown right to the big blond guy._ Clearly it was a weapon of some sort – just no kind of weapon any of them could ever have imagined.

The video finished running and Dr. Wilson turned to Fury. "Interesting." Clint noticed the egghead studying the footage. He was curious, but not at all surprised. _Great._ Thought Clint. _You mean we have a guy who knows about this kind of stuff?_ The implications made Clint take a deep breath. _Shit, this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. _

"Any idea who those people might be Wilson?" asked Fury.

"Did you make contact with them?" the doctor replied.

"Briefly", replied Coulson. The big guy seemed to be able to speak English, but it was clear that, well, he wasn't from around here."

Wilson turned to Fury, "Sir, I think every bit of evidence we have should be transferred to my team for further research." He said, hiding his enthusiasm behind the seriousness of the situation.

"Done." Replied Fury without hesitation. And with that Wilson left the room.

Clint leaned over to Phil, "so where do you keep _that _guy?" Coulson ignored him.

Fury sat down at the table and leaned back in his chair, thinking, contemplating. It wasn't like Fury to be quiet for very long. The man never sat still for more than two minutes. Clint started to tap the table and Phil shot him a look. Clint stopped, but for just about 10 seconds.

Finally, fury spoke, "Coulson, go pick up that Selvig guy." Said Fury, referring to one of the researchers who had stumble into the 'guy with the hammer' mess. "I think we can use his expertise in physics."

"For what sir?" Phil asked, sounding a bit like he really didn't want to know the answer.

"I want him to take a look at _IT_."

"Yes sir." Replied Coulson without further comment.

"Barton?" Fury suddenly remembering Clint was in the room, "I want you at this base until further notice. I need you your eyes on this one at all times, you understand?"

"Yes sir." Barton responded, knowing that Nick Fury didn't use the word 'need' very often.

_*****Any thoughts on who Wilson might be?*****_

_**Put your guess in a review **___


	2. Chapter 2

A week later, Selvig was successfully moved to the base and given unfettered access to the Tesseract. Clint was already tired of looking at the thing. He'd read everything there was to read on how HYDRA had tried to harness the power in the thing. The Nazis hadn't figured it completely, and neither had anyone sense. And Fury thought this strange Norwegian guy was going to crack the code? Clint wasn't optimistic.

The Dark Energy Base was just about the most boring place Clint Barton had ever been stationed. He missed Natasha like hell and he had nothing to do in this concrete bunker full of scientists. Phil had gone back to New York to help clean up the Stark Expo mess. Nat was still stuck with Fury on the helicarrier. Why, why had he and Natasha been put on a short leash? It didn't seem like punishment, exactly, just like he and Nat were being held close to home for some reason. A reason Clint couldn't quite figure out yet.

Clint wandered into what passed for bar in the town – if it could really be called that- closest to the base, a place called Silver City. A few people from base were there, but they weren't exactly a talkative crowd. There was pool table and an old dart board on the wall. Well, at least the darts might be fun. But neither Nat nor Phil were here to play with him.

Clint bought a beer from the bar and wandered over to a table. He noticed a base guy in the corner, reading a tablet, looking like he was just passing time too. Clint hadn't bothered to get to know any names here, but this guy looked familiar. Oh, wait - this was the egghead from the briefing. Fury let him off base after all…

Clint walked up to him, the guy recognizing him as well. What was his name again? Wilson.

"Agent Barton, nice to see you again. Please, have a seat." He motioned.

Clint took the chair simply because he didn't have anything better to do.

Clint nodded, "you get the stuff you needed ok, doc?"

"Yes, thank you."

"You stationed here permanently?"

"I divide my time between my lab at Stanford and my other assignments."

"Sure, right." Mumbled Clint.

Wilson put the tablet down and looked at Clint directly, "I'm sorry Agent Barton, I don't mean to be anti-social. I just don't have too many people around here that I can converse with."

Clint caught his meaning, "You mean anyone with high enough security clearance that you're allowed to talk them?"

"Something like that."

"Must get boring"

"My work keeps me busy."

"Know the feeling."

"Been with SHIELD long?" Wilson ventured.

"10 years in tactical ops. You?"

"Longer than I can remember."

"You get recruited right out of college?"

Wilson took a deep breath and tried to hide the fact that he wasn't sure how to answer that question. "Yes, SHIELD funded my doctoral research."

Clint was glad this guy wasn't too chatty, but he was still bored.

"You play pool, doc?"

"Of course, I may a biologist, but I do know my around a bar."

Clint popped up and headed for the table, raising his hand to bartender, who waved him on as if he couldn't be bothered to collect money right then.

Clint racked the balls, and motioned for Wilson to break. The biologist did so with some degree of skill. The game progressed. Wilson still eyed Clint a little warily; sure his Barton guy could kill someone with a pool stick with one hand tied behind his back and blindfolded. But at least there was someone on base whom with he was actually allowed to have a conversation with. Hadn't had that in years.

"First name is Clint, by the way. You got one?"

"Sure, Elliot, my first name is Elliot."

Clint nodded and continued to clear the table.


	3. Chapter 3

Another week passed. The blue cube was still blue and blinking. There had been no sign of any more _'visitors'_ and Barton had run and re-run background checks on all the people with access to the cube. Other than a few people's questionable taste in late night internet browsing, they were all clean. Clint passed the time in the gym and on the range, but nothing took his mind off of HER for very long.

This evening, after a particularly long workout, he was lying on his bed-staring at the ceiling, feeling more than a bit lonely. Clint missed Natasha and wanted to so bad to just call her because. But for some reason that was out of the question for the two of them and Clint was really pissed as to why. Is not that he considered himself a big talker about feelings and stuff. One of the reasons he and Tasha worked so well together-in every way- was that they didn't have to talk about feelings. They always just DID. They instinctively knew how to fight as a team – her up close and him from a distance. They knew how to conduct surveillance- they could watch someone or something for hours and never exchange a word. And they could fight each other too- Clint's favorite part. They could spar for hours without really hurting each other physically, unless one of them was trying to prove a point, of course. But even then, it was never a hard blow – just a "told you so" kind of hit. And then when things just kind of naturally went to the next level, they'd never discussed it. Each knew the other was happy about it and that was enough. Even after Budapest when he told her he loved her, really truly loved her, so many things still went unsaid. He thought they'd have time after Budapest to talk about it. But then everything at SHIELD seemed to change in an instant. _Promotion_ _my ass_ was all he could think when Coulson had called the next day to say that Nat was to join Fury's senior staff and he and Coulson were being sent all over the world tracking down all kinds of god knows what shit. Clint appreciated Fury's pulling of some miracle with the Pentagon- giving Clint back his Army officer's status and a promotion to Captain at that. But what really bothered him was that it felt like he and Natasha were being separated on purpose. Clint had never cared what anybody thought about him and Nat. Rumors had abounded since the day he'd brought her in, and Clint did nothing to quell them. Phil was ok with it. Fury had no choice but to be ok with it and everyone else could just mind their own damn business. So why? Why had Fury broken them up? And when would he ever get a chance to spend more than a few hours at a time with Natasha?

Clint startled when he saw his phone glowing. He slipped his aids back in… the screen just said UNKOWN where the caller ID number should have been…

"Barton here." He said.

"Hi, it's me." Natasha said, trying to sound happy – _even though she was miserable.._

"Tasha? What's up?" _how could she have known he was thinking about her?_

"I, uh, I just thought I'd call and say Hi." _Why can't you be here with me? -was what she really wanted to say._

"Ok, Hi," he said back playfully.

Her silence indicated she didn't appreciate his teasing.

"I miss you Tasha." He said, _hoping he didn't sound too pathetic._

"I miss you too Clint."

"You on the boat?"

"Yes, training maneuvers over the arctic right now."

"Sounds cold. Wish I was there to keep you warm."

"Me too."

Clint was shaking from how sexy her voice sounded.

"Clint, I -I "her voice trailed off as Clint heard another ringing in the background followed by a few choice words in Russian…"I swear that MAN has me bugged! She hissed. "I have to say goodbye Hot Shot. I love you." She managed to get out before the line went dead.

Clint grabbed his forehead in shock. Natasha had just said '_I love you_.' It was the first time he had heard her say the words since Budapest. Natasha was finally able to say "I love you" and she was on a fucking flying aircraft carrier over the artic and he was 1000 feet down in the ground in the middle of fucking New Mexico! Why? Why? Why? Clint grabbed his gear and stalked back down to the range.

It was midnight by the time he had exhausted his supply of incendiary arrows. He was walking back out of the locker room when his phone rang again. It was Phil.

"It's fucking midnight Phil, what do you want?" Clint snapped into the phone.

"Done blowing stuff up for the night?"

"I could go a few more hours. What do you want?"

"Need you to go to India."

"What's in India? Glowing red rocks like in Indiana Jones?"

Phil wondered what in the world had crawled up Clint's ass "No, it's a who, and the glow is more of a green…"

_Fucking fabulous_, thought Clint.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: So, I just realized I've left poor Clint suffering alone for 10 days... I've been busy working on some original fiction. After reading this week's crop of fanfic stories in which Clint almost always suffers a horrible death, I've decided to cut him a break and give him a little time with Natasha. **_

Chapter 4

The trip to India wasn't as bad as Barton had feared. Coulson kept his word and the mission was strictly surveillance. Clint couldn't help but feel bad for Dr. Bruce Banner. The guy seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He never passed up the opportunity to help someone. Be it a homeless beggar on the street in Mumbai or child suffering from cholera in Kerala. Clint knew what it was like to try to atone for one's sins, but he just couldn't figure out exactly what it was Banner had thought he had done. From the intel they had, Banner was not a violent person before his accident. And after, well Banner had no control over what came after. But here he was in India, on a one-man crusade to help people.

After a week of keeping his distance, Barton moved in closer one afternoon. He just needed to see exactly how Banner managed to keep control. Fury wanted to know. So, Clint found himself in a market in Bangalore, tailing Banner. The scientist was negotiating the purchase of medical supplies from an old woman. The woman was tough, but Banner was charming her. Clint laughed at the woman's sudden change of heart. She gave him what he needed and a little extra, sending him off with Hindu prayer of Sweetness. Banner passed in front of him, so Barton took a sudden interest in some saris hanging on a wall. He noticed one with a mesmerizing red print. He was dressed as a Western business man, so why not buy something nice for someone special back home? Clint had just finished paying- full price to the astonishment of the vendor- when he saw Banner disappear down an alley.

Barton hurried away with his package tucked under his arm. Banner wasn't stupid. He knew he was likely being hunted. He never stayed in the same place for too long, and he always varied his route when traveled. _Not bad for a physicist_, thought Barton. The SHIELD agent gave his target some space. It was likely that Banner was just going back to his flat. Barton perched on the top of the roof of the building opposite of Banner's, concealing himself behind someone's laundry. The spy could see Banner in the window of his 2nd story room, simply reading a book. _Nice and relaxing I guess_, thought Clint. Banner stayed in his room for the rest of the evening. Barton realized he wasn't going to get much more out of Banner than this, so he decided to call it a night.

Clint found his way back to his hotel room and sprawled out on the bed. He composed an encrypted email to Coulson: _Subject observed for 8 days. No incidents on the sub-continent reported. No indication of incidents. No incidents likely. Most likely approachable_.

Ten minutes later, Couslon replied with: _Acknowledged. Return to base._

Barton's reply: _Which base?_

Coulson's reply: _Central, if you can handle the excitement._

Barton: _Affirmative!_

From his office in Manhattan, Phil Coulson chuckled and closed his laptop.

Twenty hours later, Agent Clint Barton strode into the New York facility, happy to back. He found an empty bunk room and dropped his gear. His phone rang, "Barton here?"

"Debrief in 30" said Coulson and hung up.

The debriefing was quick; because there really wasn't much to say other than the subject seemed to be a stand-up guy who read a lot of books. Coulson and Barton were just leaving the conference room when Clint heard the distinctive bellow of Nick Fury. Fury was one floor down, and Clint could see him through the open atrium. Sure enough, Romanoff was with him, trailing behind and looking bored. Barton's sudden interest in Director Fury and his entourage was not lost on Coulson. He chuckled and just walked away saying "You're welcome."

Clint shot him an ornery look and considered his options. He decided that keeping a safe distance from Fury was probably –always- the best option. No need to get sent back to the Dark Energy Base too soon.

Serendipity graced him when Natasha turned and glanced around to check her surroundings. Clint always referred to it as her 'crazy Ivan' and she couldn't have picked a better time for it. Her gaze rose and met his. True to form, she turned back as if she'd seen nothing. But, he could see a faint smile spread across her face.

Clint knew that Nat would find the best way to slip away later, so he went back to his bunk room to shower. It was 21:00 when he heard on knock on the door. He slowly unlocked it, teasing her a bit. He opened the door to find her with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. Her beauty never failed to make him breathe a little faster. She was wearing jeans, a white blouse, and black leather jacket. Clearly, she was dressed for an evening away from base. Clint agreed with her plan without a word and grabbed his own black jacket.

Within minutes they were in a cab and headed to their favorite lounge in Brooklyn. The music was always good and the lights were low. She took his hand in hers and he stole a kiss on her cheek. She laughed at his sophomoric behavior, but didn't object. "You're a child." She teased.

"Let's be children tonight." He whispered in her ear.

She leaned into him and squeezed his hand tighter. She could see his smile in the flashes of light that danced through the windows in the taxi. Traffic was easy this evening, and they made it to the bar by 9:45. A line had already formed an indication that the music tonight was going to be good. They slipped in the side door as always, and the Murray, the owner, face lit up when he saw them. A couple like this was good for the atmosphere. These two, Clint and Natalie, were just about as good looking as it got. And they were wealthy too. Not pretend rich, like half the wanabees that tried to pass the line, but really quite well off. Clint slipped the hostess a hundred and she found them a table in the back, just like they preferred. Murray made a point to pass them by and welcome them. Clint nodded and Natalie gave him a coy smile.

By the time the drinks and food had been served, the band was starting. It was new band they'd never heard of, but the line outside the door was deserved. As the sound of contemporary blues began to relax them, Clint took Natasha's hand softly and let the perfection of the night sink in. She smiled and leaned back to enjoy the music. If only these nights weren't so rare and stolen she thought to herself.

She watched him as he listened to the music. He was tan from his exile to New Mexico and India and his body looked like he'd done nothing be lift weights for a month. He'd somehow managed to tame his hair and he looked more handsome than usual. Maybe it was just because they'd been apart, she mused, but she just couldn't stop looking at him. Maybe it was the 2nd martini she'd drunk too quickly. Maybe it was because she just couldn't seem to sit close enough to him tonight. But whatever it was, she was sure that she didn't want to wait for the band to play every song.

By the 4th song, Clint was thinking that no matter how nice the bar was, he just wanted to get her alone. They could go back to base, but he was tired of sneaking around there. He wanted something more special for her tonight.

"Would you like to visit that new Hotel, the James?" he whispered. She smiled and nodded.

Murray watched as the beautiful pair left the bar, making heads turn. He smiled.

Clint called the hotel and convinced the desk they'd lost his reservation. Natasha smiled leaned against him in the cab for the return trip to Manhattan. The room at the James was everything it was supposed to be: elegant, and comfortable, and private.

As soon as the door was close and locked, he took her in his arms and kissed her deeply. Maybe they did only have one night, but they both planned to make it last as long as possible.


End file.
